


Tunnel Vision

by AnonEhouse



Series: Battling Coronavirus (varied fandoms) [15]
Category: Beauty and the Beast (TV 1987), The Immortal (TV 1969)
Genre: COVID-19, Coronavirus cure, Crack Treated Seriously, Crossover, Gen, Happy Ending, Homelessness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:42:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23550988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonEhouse/pseuds/AnonEhouse
Summary: Just because you're homeless doesn't mean you're worthless. Vincent knows what being different is like.
Series: Battling Coronavirus (varied fandoms) [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1676572
Comments: 16
Kudos: 30





	Tunnel Vision

(If you are reading this on any PAY site this is a STOLEN WORK, the author has NOT Given Permission for it to be here. If you're paying to read it, you're being cheated too because you can read it on Archiveofourown for FREE.)

"Do you have a safe place to stay?"

It was dark, and a deep voice coming from the dark outside of the drain culvert was hardly reassuring, but years of experience counted for something, so Ben wasn't frightened. No, he wasn't. A do-gooder sounded different from a cop and neither of them sounded like a sadist with a baseball bat. "I'm good," he answered the voice. "Tried the shelter. Too many people- a dozen beds to one room. I hear hospitals are sending people with the virus back to the shelter if they aren't bad enough for intensive care. I may be homeless, but I'm not stupid. It won't be disease that'll kill me. Scared people crammed together? That's dangerous. No. It's safer for me on my own." Ben shrugged. "Thanks for asking, though."

"There are other places besides the shelters."

"Oh, sure. I hear any minute now the mayor's gonna give us all hotel rooms. Room service. Sure. It's not as if they didn't close the soup kitchens and the libraries and the restaurants to force us into the shelters. No place else to eat, or charge your phone, or use the john. It's the shelters, or living like a stray dog. At least a stray dog can run if you kick at him."

"There is another place."

"Churches are closed too. Who else would let me in?"

"Below the subways. There are tunnels. Old tunnels where we've made a world of our own. We care for one another. The tunnels go on for miles. No one knows how big they are..."

"Mouse knows!" A higher, and more excited, voice spoke. "It's big, mister! Vincent thinks he knows all of it, but Mouse has MAPS! Mouse draws them. Much better than the stupid subway map, all straight lines and wrong wrong distances."

Finally intrigued, Ben looked out of the culvert. There was enough light from the moon to see two silhouettes. One was about his size. The other was huge. 

The huge one threw his head back and laughed. Moonlight glinted off his teeth. His fangs. Contrary to what everyone believed not all homeless people were drunk or drugged or mentally afflicted. Some were just luckless. Like him. So he knew what he was seeing was real. "Ok, so... now I'm going to be eaten by a bear. A bear and a mouse."

The big guy laughed again. "No one's going to eat you. If you really want to stay here, we won't force to you to come with us."

"We have PIE!" the smaller one, presumably 'Mouse', said. "I heard Mary say so! Pie and coffee."

Ben thought about it for a minute. "All right. You have pie. There's lots of people on the streets, most of them easier to find than me. Why do you want to invite me in particular?"

"Narcissa said," Mouse replied. "She KNOWS. She looked at her crystals and had a vision. She said you were the key, didn't she say so, Vincent?"

"The key? Me?" Ben laughed. "The key to what?"

Vincent (and he was glad the bear had a human name) said, "We don't know. Narcissa is... very fond of riddles."

 _"What is red is golden,  
What is taken is stolen,  
A gift can be compared,  
Not taken, but shared."_, Mouse quoted in a sing-song voice.

Ben stiffened for the first time. Then he stood up. He was a strong man, strong despite running and hiding for years, strong as a man in his prime. His face wasn't lined, and his hair was glossy black. "Not taken, but shared?" he said softly.

Vincent nodded. "Father is a doctor. And we have other people. People with talents and skills, like Narcissa." He pushed the hood back off his face, revealing clear blue eyes set in a leonine head. "If you have a gift, we would not steal it from you, but if it could be shared... you said it wouldn't be disease that would kill you."

"I don't get sick." He took a deep breath. It was hard to trust, but Vincent... if there was anyone who understood what being different meant, it would be Vincent. "My blood... it contains all known antibodies and immunities... and probably every unknown one as well. I've been hunted for over fifty years because of it."

Mouse said, "Oh, you must be tired of running. Come and have pie!"

"Pie without any strings attached," Vincent said.

"Pie sounds good." Ben held out his hand. "I'm Ben Richards." He hadn't said his true name in decades. It felt freeing. He smiled. "I'd like to share with you."

**Author's Note:**

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Immortal_(1970_TV_series)
> 
> https://ny.curbed.com/2020/3/13/21178079/coronavirus-nyc-homeless-services-covid-19
> 
> While 'The Immortal' was only a TV show, there is a man whose blood is so special it saved over 2.4 million babies.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Harrison_(blood_donor)  
> Short version- when he was 14 he was hospitalized and needed blood. He vowed to donate once he was 18 (then minimum age required). After the first few donations they discovered his blood contained unusually strong antibodies against the antigen that kills Rh positive babies born to Rh negative women. Both by direct donation of his blood plasma and research based on it, he saved lives (thousands just by the direct donation -he made 1173 donations before Australian policy prohibited further donations- past age 81 they don't allow it), plus the research led to creating medication that also saved lives.


End file.
